The Best Travel Photos of 2016

In 2016 we shared many travel photos. Here are the top 10 travel images from destinations around the world. These photos were featured on our social channels that started before our official launch of SomedayTrips.com this year. Deciding on the top 10 is sort of a crowd-sourced exercise using Instagram, which somewhat skews the results as the account grows, so we are also going to share some honorable mentions.

Here are the photos as they ranked in our Instagram account this year.

This photos was captured in 2006 with a Canon D30. One of thousands we took during our trip through Greece that year, we were suprised by the activity and this making it to #1. We love the colors, contrast and texture of this simple photo. We had a car which allowed us to explore the island and its more remote areas. Traveling to the remote areas we enjoyed one of our favorite meals and captured this photo near there.

#2 Thun, Switzerland

Our travel to Switzerland had great days and days of disappointment due to weather. We had on and off again rain during the time there and our visit to Thun was no exception. This was captured from one of the towers using an iPhone 6s and then processed with Adobe Lightroom and ON1 Software. The medieval city centers of many Swiss cities are a must-see.

#3 Arches National Park, USA

The western United States has such dramatic landscape that it is no surprise that this one made it to #3 in our Top 10 travel photos of 2016. This was captured with a Canon 5D Mark III and processed with Adobe and ON1 Software products. Illuminating some of the shadows and sharpening during post-processing made this photo pop. This park is truly amazing and we only wish we had more time here. It is on the list for a return visit.

#4 Sapphire Beach, US Virgin Islands

There are so many beautiful beaches in the US Vrigin Islands and Sapphire Beach is one of them. A popular destination for honeymooners we typically always make a visit to this beach even if on St. John. We have another picture of this beach which has been a top seller. The snorkeling here is good with the chance of seeing sea turtles being high. This was captured with a Canon 60D (the current equivalent is the 80D).

#5 Bora Bora, French Polynesia

The amazing Bora Bora is such a famous location with the overwater bungalows. Coming in at #5 for 2016 we are sure it ranks #5 or higher for many people on their 2016 travel bucket list. We are planning on making a visit here in 2017 if possible. This was captured by our somedaytrippers in the family, Doug and Megan, with a Canon Powershot SX50 camera. This is a great compact camera with amazing optical zoom features you won't find in your phone.

#6 Bryce Canyon, USA

This photo was captured after a long wait for sunrise at Bryce. Arriving in the dark at a park requires some previous research and we believe we found the right spot for the morning sun. Once we had a break in the clouds as we shivered in the cool morning, we caught the gorgeous golden hour rays cascading down on this amazing formation of nature. Captured with a Canon 5D MarkIII.

#7 Amalfi Coast, Italy

The amazing Amalfi coast is a top bucket list pick. We are always trying to share some of the images we captured during our trip here. This place is a photography paradise with all the textures and colors available. This clearly had all the favorite elements in it, one being water. This was captured with a Canon 60D.

#8 Niagara Falls, Canada

In 2016 we took a little more than a day and explored Niagara Falls. We captured this the night that we arrived after a dinner with a view at the Keg restaurant. The colors at night and the sound of rushing water is amazing. Capturing this was a bit of a challenge but we were happy with the final outcome. This would was taken close to the last time that the fall will be lit up with these colors. Later in the year the falls got a new light upgrade with LED features that allow for color shifting. This photo was captured with a Canon 5D Mark III with a Sigma 24-35 ART lens. This lens is a beauty with an f-stop at F2 and is super sharp. The only downside is compared to a prime lens it is heavy.

#9 Blausee, Switzerland

We captured this photo after our tour of Thun and on the way to Brig for another base camp on our Switzerland trip. Blausee is one of those must-see places if nearby, and we only wish it had not been rainy and cloudy during our visit, but we survived. This was captured with an iPhone 6s Plus and then processed with Adobe and ON1 Software products.

#10 Marigot Bay, Saint Martin

This photo was captured on our last day of our trip before a day packing and heading to the airport. The island is famous for those shots where the planes fly in low over Maho beach. This harbor has all the right elements to make it into the top 10 for the year. This was captured with a Canon 60D camera.

Our Honorable Mentions for Top 2016 Travel Photos

Saint John, US Virgin Islands

This image received the most comments in our instagram feed. People must have been dreaming about tropical islands that day. It was captured with a Canon 30D camera.

Gatineau Park, Canada

This top 2016 photo received the second most comments for the year during our fall features. It was captured by Someday Trippers Doug and Meg whom we asked to get us some Canadian Fall color. They did that and captured this with a Samsung Galaxy S6 camera phone.

Venice, Italy

This gets an honorable mention in that it rose quickly in likes by readers and was posted near the end of the year. Captured on a water taxi when we traveled from our Hilton Hotel to the main island we were very happy with the results. This was captured with our newest camera the Sony A7 R2 with a 35mm Ziess lens. It shows how important a fast lens can be when trying to capture a scene from a moving boat on choppy water. The Sony DSLR was a new purchase before our trip to Europe in 2016. One of our criteria was the need for 4k video capture in the camera and a reasonable size. At first we put an order in for the new Canon 1D but the price and weight just didn't seem to make sense. Perhaps it was time to branch out from Canon and we are pleased overall with this Sony camera. We found an adapter for our Canon lenses that is adequate but not perfect. Having at least one Sony prime lens was great for video and light weight shoot.

Some other photography equipment we purchased this year and found helpful in our travels.

The bluetooth remote was a great add-on for using the iphone cameras for shooting. This was especially useful when using a selfie to get a high or low perspective. We never use it for any other reason. The DSLR pack helped keep the batteries organized. The one downside the new Sony DSLR is battery life so we have 4 of those now. The Mindshift filter pack was probably the best organizer we have had for sometime for our camera filters. It can be attached in various ways and fit nicely in the top of our backpack. We made some changes in our filter system this year and decided to go with a new comer Breakthrough Filters. We purchased a new set of ND filters and a polarizer as we had a new lens that was larger. We also opted to get setup rings. We don't carry as many filters as we once did because of what we can do in digital but having ND filters and a polarizer are a must. While we did make some other purchases we will share the rest in another article. Click on some links and consider these items in your travel pack.